City Hall Sets Truce In Development Fight

January 18, 1993|By R.C. Longworth.

The two sides battling for control of a Northwest Side economic-development agency will meet Monday to endorse a truce negotiated by the city government.

A meeting Friday ended with leaders of the Industrial Council of Northwest Chicago retreating from attempts to blackball dissident businesses from membership, block a competing slate of directors, and squelch resolutions proposed by members.

The result was a victory for the small startup businesses that rent space in ICNC's nationally known incubator center. The tenants won the right to join ICNC, put up a slate of directors, reverse what they saw as attempts to rig the election, and keep ICNC staff members from lobbying for their preferred candidates.

"We accomplished our goal of assuring there will be fair and informed elections," said Tim Boeglin, leader of the incubator tenants.

"I feel very positive about this," said Valerie Jarrett, the city's commissioner for planning and development, who called both sides into her office for the 2 1/2-hour meeting.

Separate meetings Monday of the ICNC board and the tenants were expected to endorse these results. This will pave the way for an annual meeting Thursday to elect new directors and debate the dispute that has split the organization.

Jarrett acted with the backing of Mayor Richard Daley, who said he was "concerned" about the battle, particularly the blackballing of prospective members.

ICNC is one of the city's "delegate agencies"-that is, the city government delegates it to spend federal funds in its neighborhood, which is the tough industrial area north of the Chicago Stadium. As such, the city has the duty to make sure that the agency and its board are run on democratic principles.

Jarrett met with ICNC Executive Director Andrew Goldsmith, whose firing in October of the incubator's founder and manager, June LaVelle, touched off the dispute, and with ICNC board members Bill Leavy and John Farrell. The tenants, most of whom back LaVelle and fear that ICNC wants to get rid of the incubator, were represented by Boeglin, backed by Steve Mueller, one of the growing number of local business owners who back LaVelle and the tenants.

The meeting did not try to settle the Goldsmith-LaVelle dispute. But Jarrett said this was the "next step," and both sides seemed ready to call in outside fact finders, leading to possible arbitration.

"That dispute is more complicated," Jarrett said, saying she had neither the time nor the expertise to sort out the conflicts. "Somebody is really going to have to go in and look at the books and records."

Jarrett, clearly pleased by the results, said the meeting reached these agreements:

ICNC agreed to admit 15 tenants it barred from membership last week, mostly because they had asked a court to keep LaVelle in charge of the incubator temporarily. Boeglin said it was "understood" that the tenants would be admitted by Thursday, so they can vote at the annual meeting.

- ICNC had earlier rushed members into casting mail ballots for the official slate, then declared these votes "irrevocable." It also assigned an ICNC staff member to lobby members who hadn't voted. The meeting agreed that a letter will go to members saying they can change their ballots, by mail or in person, and that ICNC staffers cannot lobby for the official slate.

Boeglin said he wanted all mail ballots cast so far invalidated "because they were tainted by the staff's incessant lobbying." But he agreed that votes already cast could stand, unless voters withdrew them. As a compromise, he said, he will get a list of mail voters so the tenants can lobby them.

- Goldsmith and other directors had thrown out a list of resolutions, including one calling for arbitration of the dispute with LaVelle, on grounds that they would undermine the board's authority. The meeting agreed that the members can debate and vote on the resolutions, but the results will not be binding on the board.

Goldsmith had demanded litigation but later endorsed negotiations. LaVelle, who wants binding arbitration, said over the weekend she was pleased by the apparent willingness on all sides to have outside experts read the crates of documents backing up the two sides' charges and countercharges.